Return and Reburial of Ferenc II. Rákóczi and his Comrades' Mortal Remains in Košice Centenary Celebration

After almost two centuries of restraining from commemorating Ferenc II Rákóczi and the resistance he had waged against the Vienna rule, this personality has still been kept alive in the minds of nations. Even though only after having taken more or less up-to-date shape, the mains ideas behind his uprising have, after all, won due recognition.

The personality of Ferenc II Rákóczi has become a symbol of Hungarian vitality and capacity to hold its own when compared to some other great European communities of high cultural levels. The country he used to fight for has not forgotten him at all. Its successors have done their utmost to return Rákóczi´s mortal remains to his homeland. After searching abroad for a long time they finally managed to recover his mortal remains and reburied them in the place as historically significant as the Prince himself. The choice was made for the great St Elizabeth´s Cathedral in Košice, the city, which played an important part in the Rákóczi uprising as well as in the Hungarian history as such.

Commemorating the anniversary of Rákóczi´s reburial in the Christian soil, we actually commemorate the great act of our ancestors who finally managed to repay the obligation they had with Rákóczi much as late as in a hundred years´ time, yet on a large scale. The round anniversary of the reburial of Rákóczi´s mortal remains is important for Hungarians as well as for all other nations who used to reside in the former Kingdom of Hungary as they all participated then in making the history and big times of that country aside from trouble or barriers which did emerge in the course of the past century.